1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a refrigerator that enables a smooth supply of cold air into a door storage space inside an auxiliary door.
2. Description of the Related Art
A refrigerator, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,586,347, includes an access opening formed through a refrigerator door to allow a user to take out items stored in a storage space inside the door without opening the door, and an auxiliary door to open or close the access opening.
The auxiliary door is pivotally mounted at the bottom of the access opening formed through the refrigerator door to open or close the access opening through a vertical pivoting movement thereof. In the refrigerator of the type employing the auxiliary door, an intermediate storage space is provided inside the door to store certain food stuffs, such as beverages, to be taken out via the access opening. The intermediate storage space inside the door is separated from a storage chamber of the refrigerator by means of a separate inner cover to prevent cold refrigerated air of the storage chamber from leaking to the outside via the access opening when a user opens the auxiliary door. The inner cover is pivotally mounted at the top thereof to an inner side of the door. The inner cover is normally closed by gravity, and can be opened only when a user raises it by pivoting at the inner side of the door.
As a result of keeping the inner cover in a closed state when a user opens the auxiliary door, the above described refrigerator has the effect of preventing the cold refrigerated air within the storage chamber from leaking to the outside via the access opening. However, the inner cover is normally closed to separate the intermediate storage space from the storage chamber, and thus tends to hinder a smooth flow of the cold refrigerated air from the storage chamber into the intermediate storage space inside the door, thereby deteriorating a cooling efficiency of the intermediate storage space inside the door (i.e. a space inside the access opening).